It’s Palm Sunday! Today’s sermon focuses on the contrast between the kingdoms offered by Jesus and Pontius Pilate, asking whose parade we want to be a part of.
Today’s Scripture readings are Philippians 2:5-11 and Matthew 21:1-11. This sermon is influenced by Rev. Gary Haller’s sermon here, this commentary by Debie Thomas, and Douglas Travis’ commentary in Feasting on the Word, Year A, page 175, as well as our theme question from our Seeking Lenten theme from A Sanctified Art.
Here’s the worship livestream and sermon audio from Christ the King.
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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen
Hopefully during this season of Lent, you’ve noticed the artwork on the glass window of the sanctuary / big room (that’s what Micah calls it).
If not, take a look on your way out. As you know, our theme for Lent has been Seeking: Honest Questions for Deeper Faith and the people who put this theme together are artists.
I am not an artist. I debated drawing something and showing it to you on a slide to prove that I’m not an artist, but you’ll just have to trust me. I draw stick people.
I’m really glad they provided artist statements explaining all the images, because my brain doesn’t work that way. I need the explanation to see what the artist is trying to say, and even then, I don’t always get it.
I haven’t heard from very many people if this works for you, but from the little feedback I’ve heard, I’m at about 50% of people saying, “This is really great, I love seeing the stories in art” and 50% saying, “I don’t get it. It doesn’t work for me.” Great, God wired us differently.
But this week’s painting, I like. It’s by Reverend Lisle Gwynn Garrity, and this one makes sense to me, especially after reading her explanation.
On that first Palm Sunday when Jesus rode into Jerusalem, some historians and theologians point out that there were actually two opposite processions happening in the city on the same day.
The Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, who will become very important in this story later this week, had his main palace in the town of Caesarea, but during the major Jewish festivals, he would move his court into Jerusalem, along with his military retinue.
And when the Roman governor comes to town, it’s a big deal. He comes in a caravan, clearing the streets. Remember, Israel is an occupied nation, so it’s important for the Roman rulers to project power and authority. Precisely because the Jewish people are gathering for the national religious festival of Passover, a celebration of God rescuing them from oppression in Egypt, the Romans need to remind them who’s in charge, so Governor Pilate would be making a show of force as he comes into Jerusalem.
Marcus Borg and John Dominic Crossan write, “Imagine that procession. A visual panoply of imperial power: Cavalry on horses, foot soldiers, leather armor, helmets, weapons, harnesses, golden eagles mounted on poles, sun glinting on metal and gold. Sounds: the marching of feet, the creaking of leather, the clinking of bridles, the beating of drums.”
All this is to project the glory of the empire’s representative, and remind the people who’s in charge. The Roman emperor claims to be divine, and Pilate is his representative.
So Pilate’s coming into Jerusalem from the west escorted by soldiers and calvary. Meanwhile, on the other side of the city, Jesus is coming in from Galilee, entering from the east. And Jesus’ procession is the opposite of Pilate’s.
Not only is he fulfilling the prophecy we heard from Zechariah of your king coming to you humble and riding on a donkey, he’s setting up a contrast to Pilate, offering another option for a ruler. Pilate is clad in armor mounted on a warhorse; Jesus is in linen robes riding on a borrowed donkey.
Rev. Garrity says that if she expanded the perspective of her painting, “Jesus would be kneeling, humbling himself before his disciples as he washes their feet. In Jesus’ processional, members of the crowd lay down their coats as a display of humility and honor.”
If people are bowing and laying garments before Pilate, it’s out of fear, trying to gain favor with the occupier.
One earthly ruler is on his way to sit in judgement over his subjugated people, seeking to hold on to his power by force. The other ruler, the one whose kingdom is not of this world, is on his way to lay down his life out of love for his people.
Today’s question is “Where are you headed?” Which ruler do you intend to follow? If you were there that day, which parade would you join in?
The answer seems obvious, right? Of course, we all picture ourselves in Jesus’ parade. Of course we’d be there to greet the humble king, shouting hosanna, “Please, save us, Lord!”
Because even when we’re tempted by earthly power, we follow the one who gives himself away, right? When we find ourselves in need, our first response is always to turn to God in prayer and ask God for help, right? Maybe sometimes.
Yet as humans, we are tempted by political power, tempted by wealth, by the desire to be in charge.
Way back in the beginning, in the garden of Eden, the original sin was Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit, trying to become like God. Their goal was to take control, obtain power, become masters of their own fate. They wanted to grasp equality with God.
Jesus—the One who is in fact God with us—Jesus who has all the power of God; Jesus who is in every way equal to God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave. He humbled himself, entering fully into the human experience, all the way to death.
We know the eternal answer to the question “Where are you heading?” and we look forward to an eternal future with hope not because of anything we’ve done, not because we have succeeded in making our way to God, or becoming equal with God, not because we’ve worked or thought or philosophized or achieved our way to god-like status, but because our King has come to us.
Jesus humbled himself to become one of us. Even as we today sing praises to King Jesus, even as we join in with the crowds praising him and shouting “Hosanna,” remember what kind of king he is. Remember who we serve.
Douglas Travis writes, “We know the divinity of the risen Lord precisely in Christ’s willingness to empty himself and obey. Two thousand years later we commemorate this one’s death, not because he was a hero, nor simply because he was divine, but because in his crucifixion and resurrection the truth is revealed that self-emptying, sacrifice, and obedience are of the essence of divinity.”
This is who God is. This is God’s character. A king who comes to his people in their time of need, humbling himself, laying down even his own life for their sake, all out of love.
“Where are you headed?” What kind of king will you follow? Who will you look to for help?
Rev. Garrity writes, “If you are quick to place yourself in Jesus’ parade, I encourage you to pause and consider these questions honestly: When have you aligned yourself with systems or people who have used their power for violence or to uphold the status quo? When have you embodied power through vulnerability and love for your neighbor?”
Of course, even the people who were following Jesus, the people laying down their coats and waving branches, even they weren’t exactly sure what he was doing. I don’t know if many of them were in the crowd a few days later that gathered outside Pilate’s court yelling, “Crucify him!” but I do know that many of them were seeking a revolution. Not a metaphorical revolution of love, but a literal revolution, a rebellion. They expected a Messiah, a savior who would lead them to victory and kick out the Romans once and for all.
They were partially correct—Jesus was the Messiah—but he wasn’t leading the kind of revolution they expected. Jesus is Lord, he is the king—the king of kings, but his reign is not going to come about the way people expect. He is seeking something different than his followers expected, subverting expectations.
Are we willing to follow a God whose reign comes through love and sacrifice? Are we willing to “Let the same mind be in [us] that was in Christ Jesus…who became obedient to the point of death—even death on a cross?”
Because that’s where Jesus is calling us to follow. That’s where his parade is heading. Pilate, or Jesus? Earthly power, or eternal, self-giving, sacrificial love?
I said before that I don’t have any artistic talent; well, I really don’t have any poetic talent. Poetry is not my language. Nevertheless, I want to share with you this poem from Reverend Sarah Speed. Written for today, it’s titled, “Where are you headed?”
We are trains on a track,
moving through life at warp speed. Please keep all arms and legs inside the moving vehicle at all times.The years pass like a flipbook, faster than we can absorb, but the train does not stop.
We press our faces to the windows to try and get a good view and we ask each other, Where are you headed?
And there on the train we decide—
we want to head toward
the promised day.We want to head toward crowded tables
and long, healthy lives.We want to move in the direction of joyful children, and hopeful communities.
We want to move closer to God with every mile of track,
and that does not happen by accident.So it’s time to ask,
Where are you headed,
and who’s driving that train?